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ICE, Local Governments Make Important Changes to Immigration Detainer Policies
Despite the ongoing controversy surrounding ICE’s Secure Communities program, there have been some recent positive developments on the issue of immigration detainers—a tool used by ICE and other DHS officials to identify potentially deportable individuals who are housed in jails or prisons nationwide. Local governments in New York, Illinois, California and now Washington D.C. have […]
Read MoreUSCIS Seeks to Unify Families Facing Separation through Revised Waiver Process
Today, the administration took another important step toward fixing one of the most notorious problems with our broken immigration system—the 3 and 10 year bars. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it was filing a notice of intent to change a rule which would streamline the application process for many relatives […]
Read MoreProposed Rule Change Will Unify Families Subject to 3 and 10 Year Bars
Washington D.C. – Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a proposal to streamline the application process for the spouses and children of U.S. citizens currently eligible for legal permanent resident status, minimizing the amount of time that applicants would have to be separated from their families. Under current procedures, thousands of persons who […]
Read MoreCelebrating a Legislative Victory for Refugees and Religious Freedom
BY MELANIE NEZER, HEBREW IMMIGRANT AID SOCIETY (HIAS) Tucked into the fiscal year 2012 spending bill the President signed before the holidays was an extension of a provision known as the “Lautenberg Amendment.” The inclusion of the extension is good news for refugees seeking religious freedom at a time when Congress has deadlocked on immigration […]
Read MoreValue Added: Immigrants Create Jobs and Businesses, Boost Wages of Native-Born Workers
Immigrants are not the cause of unemployment in the United States. Empirical research has demonstrated repeatedly that there is no correlation between immigration and unemployment. In fact, immigrants—including the unauthorized—create jobs through their purchasing power and their entrepreneurship, buying goods and services from U.S. businesses and creating their own businesses, both of which sustain U.S. jobs. The presence of new immigrant workers and consumers in an area also spurs the expansion of businesses, which creates new jobs. In addition, immigrants and native-born workers are usually not competing in the same job markets because they tend to have different levels of education, work in different occupations, specialize in different tasks, and live in different places. Because they complement each other in the labor market rather than compete, immigrants increase the productivity—and the wages—of native-born workers. In the words of economist Giovanni Peri, “immigrants expand the U.S. economy’s productive capacity, stimulate investment, and promote specialization that in the long run boosts productivity,” and “there is no evidence that these effects take place at the expense of jobs for workers born in the United States.”
Read MoreNew Reports Track Devastating Impact of Alabama’s Extreme Immigration Law on Residents
Despite recent court decisions and interpretations from the state’s Attorney General that limit implementation of Alabama’s draconian immigration law, HB 56, much of damage has already been done. Two recent reports by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the AFL-CIO further illustrate the ways in which HB 56 is complicating many aspects of daily life. Both […]
Read MoreAs Iowa Caucuses Approach, Signatories of Iowa Compact Hope to Reframe Immigration Debate
Exhausted by the base immigration rhetoric prevalent in the GOP presidential debate, a group of concerned Iowans is seeking to reframe the issue in anticipation of the Iowa Caucuses next month. Last week, business, faith and city leaders in Iowa signed the Iowa Compact—a list of five principles meant to guide how people discuss immigration. […]
Read MoreDHS Shuts Down 287(g) Agreement with Maricopa County Following DOJ Investigation, Restricts Secure Communities
Today, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Janet Napolitano, announced that DHS will terminate its 287(g) agreement with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and restrict access to the Secure Communities program, following damaging findings released by the Department of Justice (DOJ). After a three year long civil rights investigation into the Maricopa […]
Read MoreJust in Time for the Holidays: Congress Moves 4 Million Children Closer to Poverty
Congress has been unable to pass any meaningful immigration legislation this year, but the House couldn’t miss a chance to stick it to immigrants by going after their U.S. citizen children in a recent tax bill. While Americans are debating whether taxes on millionaires should be raised, the House, at least, is planning to raise […]
Read MoreAlabama’s Immigration Law Digs Deeper Hole for State Economy
Although some Alabama lawmakers credit the state’s overall drop in unemployment to their new immigration law (HB 56), the reality is that many industries and sectors in the state are losing workers and jobs. This week, the Birmingham News reported that Alabama’s construction industry is losing jobs faster than nearly any other state—a loss experts […]
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